Deepings dominate at the Rob Welbourn Open meet with 144 medals

Bob French

Deepings Swimming Club dominated their home Rob Welbourn Open meet with a medal haulf of 62 gold, 44 silver and 38 bronze.

The meet, named after Deepings’ two-time Paralympic gold medallist and held at Deepings Leisure Centre over the weekend (October 6-7), was attended by eight clubs from across the East Midlands. Thirty-five Deepings swimmers won medals, with the boys collecting 75 and the girls 69 for a grand total of 144.

Swimmer of the meet was Tiffany Wong, who won an incredible nine gold medals from her 10 events in the 11/12yrs age group. Tiffany touched home first in every stroke showing her all-round class in the pool, with victory in the 50m and 100m breaststroke, 50m and 100m butterfly, 50m and 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100IM and 200IM. She also won silver in the 50m backstroke.

Lucie Lund collected five golds in the 9/10yrs age group with a clean-sweep in the three backstroke events, as well as winning the 50m butterfly and 100IM. Lucie also won silver in the 50m freestyle. In the same age group, Emma Dennis took a hat-trick of golds in the three breaststroke distances, also adding the 200m freestyle title, plus silver in the 100m freestyle, 100IM and 200m backstroke, and bronze in the 50m backstroke and 100m butterfly.

In the 11/12yrs age group, Molly Briers took home eight medals, including gold in the 200m freestyle and 200m backstroke, while Holly Griffin topped the podium in the 200m butterfly after swimming a brilliant 13-second personal best.

The boys were in an equally jubilant mood after striking gold 34 times.

Former boys club captain Tom Neal continued his excellent early-season form with six golds in the 15/O age group, with victory in the 100m and 200m freestyle, 100IM, 200IM, 100m backstroke and 100m butterfly. He also won silver in the 50m freestyle to medal in all his events.

Tom’s successor as club captain Louis Metselaar continued the excellent work in the 15/O with gold in the 50m butterfly, a pair of silvers in the 100m freestyle and 200IM, and bronze in the 50m freestyle.

Adding more gold in the 15/O age group were Jake Jungmann (50m and 100m breaststroke, and 50m backstroke) and Tom Adams (200m butterfly).

The younger swimmers made a huge contribution to the overall medal tally.

Eight golds came in the 9/10yrs age group, with four apiece for Louis Sanderson (50m butterfly, 100IM, 200IM and 100m backstroke), and Jacob Briers (200m backstroke, 200m freestyle, 100m and 200m breaststroke). Jacob also took five silvers and one bronze to medal in all 10 of his races.

Three boys won gold in the 13/14yrs age group. Zack Treharne touched home first in the 50m butterfly, 50m and 200m freestyle, Harry Cardell won the 100m freestyle and doubled up in the 100m and 200m butterfly, while Joseph Lund swept the breaststroke events with gold in the 50m, 100m and 200m.

In addition to all the medals, Deepings swimmers also achieved an incredible 202 personal bests and 51 country qualifying times for next year’s Lincolnshire County Championships.

Lynn Chapman, Deepings Swimming Club head coach, said: “What an excellent set of results by our swimmers. Although we are still early in the season, they are all exceeding expectations with some very fast swimming and some excellent skills on display. They are listening to the coaches and have been working hard since we returned from summer break and they are already reaping the rewards.”

The Rob Welbourn meet has been held since 2013 and this year saw teams from Chatteris Kingfishers, Gainsborough, Grantham, Leicester Neptune, Lincoln Trident, Louth Dolphins and South Lincs, plus multiple Deepings Swimming Club record holder Lauren Wray returning to race under the Barrow ASC cap.